There are two main goals for this course. The first is to provide a general introduction to game and decision theory with a special focus on the growing body of literature surrounding the so-called epistemic foundations of game theory. Epistemic game theory aims at formalizing assumptions about knowledge, belief and rationality, and then studies their behavioral implications in games. The second goal is to carefully examine the assumptions that are built into any game-theoretic model of social interaction. We will finish the course by discussing some broader issues surrounding the role that mathematical models play in the social sciences and the how to interpret a game-theoretic model.

Some previous exposure to game and decision theory will be helpful, but is not required (I will do my best to provide the necessary background in game and decision theory. This will include a tutorial on the basic concepts of game and decision theory during the first lecture and additional lectures on background material as needed during the semester). This is an interdisciplinary topic, and so our readings will be taken from economics, logic, philosophy and cognitive science journals.